.\" Copyright (c) 2011, Mark R. Bannister <cambridge@users.sourceforge.net>
.\" Copyright (c) 2015, Robin H. Johnson <robbat2@gentoo.org>
.\"
.\" SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-or-later
.\"
.TH getent 1 2024-05-02 "Linux man-pages 6.9.1"
.SH NAME
getent \- get entries from Name Service Switch libraries
.SH SYNOPSIS
.nf
.B getent [\fIoption\fP]... \fIdatabase\fP \fIkey\fP...
.fi
.SH DESCRIPTION
The
.B getent
command displays entries from databases supported by the
Name Service Switch libraries,
which are configured in
.IR /etc/nsswitch.conf .
If one or more
.I key
arguments are provided,
then only the entries that match the supplied keys will be displayed.
Otherwise, if no
.I key
is provided, all entries will be displayed (unless the database does not
support enumeration).
.P
The
.I database
may be any of those supported by the GNU C Library, listed below:
.TP
.B ahosts
When no
.I key
is provided, use
.BR sethostent (3),
.BR gethostent (3),
and
.BR endhostent (3)
to enumerate the hosts database.
This is identical to using
.BR hosts (5).
When one or more
.I key
arguments are provided, pass each
.I key
in succession to
.BR getaddrinfo (3)
with the address family
.BR AF_UNSPEC ,
enumerating each socket address structure returned.
.TP
.B ahostsv4
Same as
.BR ahosts ,
but use the address family
.BR AF_INET .
.TP
.B ahostsv6
Same as
.BR ahosts ,
but use the address family
.BR AF_INET6 .
The call to
.BR getaddrinfo (3)
in this case includes the
.B AI_V4MAPPED
flag.
.TP
.B aliases
When no
.I key
is provided, use
.BR setaliasent (3),
.BR getaliasent (3),
and
.BR endaliasent (3)
to enumerate the aliases database.
When one or more
.I key
arguments are provided, pass each
.I key
in succession to
.BR getaliasbyname (3)
and display the result.
.TP
.B ethers
When one or more
.I key
arguments are provided, pass each
.I key
in succession to
.BR ether_aton (3)
and
.BR ether_hostton (3)
until a result is obtained, and display the result.
Enumeration is not supported on
.BR ethers ,
so a
.I key
must be provided.
.TP
.B group
When no
.I key
is provided, use
.BR setgrent (3),
.BR getgrent (3),
and
.BR endgrent (3)
to enumerate the group database.
When one or more
.I key
arguments are provided, pass each numeric
.I key
to
.BR getgrgid (3)
and each nonnumeric
.I key
to
.BR getgrnam (3)
and display the result.
.TP
.B gshadow
When no
.I key
is provided, use
.BR setsgent (3),
.BR getsgent (3),
and
.BR endsgent (3)
to enumerate the gshadow database.
When one or more
.I key
arguments are provided, pass each
.I key
in succession to
.BR getsgnam (3)
and display the result.
.TP
.B hosts
When no
.I key
is provided, use
.BR sethostent (3),
.BR gethostent (3),
and
.BR endhostent (3)
to enumerate the hosts database.
When one or more
.I key
arguments are provided, pass each
.I key
to
.BR gethostbyaddr (3)
or
.BR gethostbyname2 (3),
depending on whether a call to
.BR inet_pton (3)
indicates that the
.I key
is an IPv6 or IPv4 address or not, and display the result.
.TP
.B initgroups
When one or more
.I key
arguments are provided, pass each
.I key
in succession to
.BR getgrouplist (3)
and display the result.
Enumeration is not supported on
.BR initgroups ,
so a
.I key
must be provided.
.TP
.B netgroup
When one
.I key
is provided, pass the
.I key
to
.BR setnetgrent (3)
and, using
.BR getnetgrent (3)
display the resulting string triple
.RI ( hostname ", " username ", " domainname ).
Alternatively, three
.I keys
may be provided, which are interpreted as the
.IR hostname ,
.IR username ,
and
.I domainname
to match to a netgroup name via
.BR innetgr (3).
Enumeration is not supported on
.BR netgroup ,
so either one or three
.I keys
must be provided.
.TP
.B networks
When no
.I key
is provided, use
.BR setnetent (3),
.BR getnetent (3),
and
.BR endnetent (3)
to enumerate the networks database.
When one or more
.I key
arguments are provided, pass each numeric
.I key
to
.BR getnetbyaddr (3)
and each nonnumeric
.I key
to
.BR getnetbyname (3)
and display the result.
.TP
.B passwd
When no
.I key
is provided, use
.BR setpwent (3),
.BR getpwent (3),
and
.BR endpwent (3)
to enumerate the passwd database.
When one or more
.I key
arguments are provided, pass each numeric
.I key
to
.BR getpwuid (3)
and each nonnumeric
.I key
to
.BR getpwnam (3)
and display the result.
.TP
.B protocols
When no
.I key
is provided, use
.BR setprotoent (3),
.BR getprotoent (3),
and
.BR endprotoent (3)
to enumerate the protocols database.
When one or more
.I key
arguments are provided, pass each numeric
.I key
to
.BR getprotobynumber (3)
and each nonnumeric
.I key
to
.BR getprotobyname (3)
and display the result.
.TP
.B rpc
When no
.I key
is provided, use
.BR setrpcent (3),
.BR getrpcent (3),
and
.BR endrpcent (3)
to enumerate the rpc database.
When one or more
.I key
arguments are provided, pass each numeric
.I key
to
.BR getrpcbynumber (3)
and each nonnumeric
.I key
to
.BR getrpcbyname (3)
and display the result.
.TP
.B services
When no
.I key
is provided, use
.BR setservent (3),
.BR getservent (3),
and
.BR endservent (3)
to enumerate the services database.
When one or more
.I key
arguments are provided, pass each numeric
.I key
to
.BR getservbynumber (3)
and each nonnumeric
.I key
to
.BR getservbyname (3)
and display the result.
.TP
.B shadow
When no
.I key
is provided, use
.BR setspent (3),
.BR getspent (3),
and
.BR endspent (3)
to enumerate the shadow database.
When one or more
.I key
arguments are provided, pass each
.I key
in succession to
.BR getspnam (3)
and display the result.
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.BI \-\-service\~ service
.TQ
.BI \-s\~ service
.\" commit 9d0881aa76b399e6a025c5cf44bebe2ae0efa8af (glibc)
Override all databases with the specified service.
(Since glibc 2.2.5.)
.TP
.BI \-\-service\~ database : service
.TQ
.BI \-s\~ database : service
.\" commit b4f6f4be85d32b9c03361c38376e36f08100e3e8 (glibc)
Override only specified databases with the specified service.
The option may be used multiple times,
but only the last service for each database will be used.
(Since glibc 2.4.)
.TP
.B \-\-no\-idn
.TQ
.B \-i
.\" commit a160f8d808cf8020b13bd0ef4a9eaf3c11f964ad (glibc)
Disables IDN encoding in lookups for
.BR ahosts / getaddrinfo (3)
(Since glibc-2.13.)
.TP
.B \-\-help
.TQ
.B \-?
Print a usage summary and exit.
.TP
.B \-\-usage
Print a short usage summary and exit.
.TP
.B \-\-version
.TQ
.B \-V
Print the version number, license, and disclaimer of warranty for
.BR getent .
.SH EXIT STATUS
One of the following exit values can be returned by
.BR getent :
.TP
.B 0
Command completed successfully.
.TP
.B 1
Missing arguments, or
.I database
unknown.
.TP
.B 2
One or more supplied
.I key
could not be found in the
.IR database .
.TP
.B 3
Enumeration not supported on this
.IR database .
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR nsswitch.conf (5)
